Good point about US centered thinking
While there really is nothing new here, Mr. Neider makes a good point that the US still thinks of itself as the center of the universe.
For example, when oil prices peaked in July, 2008 and then started a rapid descent, people in the US credited the opening of new offshore fields by the US even though they hadn't produced a drop of oil.
What was overlooked was that prices didn't drop until both India and China reduced their retail gasoline subsidies. In India the increased cost of subsidies to keep the retail price of gasoline fixed and the huge deficit it was creating was threatening the stability of the government. Finally they had to give in and reduce the subsidy despite the political costs. China is a closed society, so we'll never know just how much pain they felt.
Subsequently India has dropped its subsidies altogether. I'm not sure about China but I think they still subsidize gasoline to the tune of 30 or 40 cents per gallon.
One aspect I think Mr. Neider overlooks is that the US is still relatively more affluent than China or India. In the global bidding war for gasoline, the average US consumer can afford to pay more per gallon than the average Indian or Chinese. We may scream at $5 per gallon, but that's a huge chunk of a day's wage for many in those two countries even in the middle class. On the other side, we still use cars that are less fuel efficient and drive more. While eventually both India and China may have larger aggregate demand than the US, it's not clear how both those countries will respond to increasing prices relative to the US.
